Under the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Enhanced Service Provider (ESP) exemption, a VoIP service provider can benefit from significant savings for call termination to a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). The ESP exemption allows a VoIP service provider to purchase local access service used for terminating local calls without paying an access charge to a Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) rather than long distance access service used for terminating long distance calls which involves paying an access charge to a LEC. Exempted terminating calls originated in a VoIP network are qualified based on the rate center associated with the Primary Rate Interface (PRI) connecting the VoIP provider gateway to the LEC PSTN switch rather than on the location, associated with the calling party phone number, of the VoIP calling party.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for enhanced services local routing in a packet network, e.g., a VoIP network, which enables a VoIP service provider to benefit from the FCC ESP exemption.